Like the three wise men, Br. William has journeyed far on his travels to this life. Mt. Michael has been a constant companion to him on his journey from his earliest days. As a child growing up in Omaha, his family made the Mt. Michael Fall Festival a family tradition. During his college years at UNO he would bring dates to the festival. After that, as a member of the LaSalle Club he volunteered for the festival selling pop. Br. William worked for Valmont industries for twenty years, and then he discerned a calling from God. This calling led him to enter Seminary College, but before he moved to college he needed to get rid of some extra radio equipment from his amateur radio hobby. He saw Fr. Dan’s name on a club roster and decided to donate the equipment to him. That started a more formal relationship with the community. He also began taking spiritual direction from Fr. Frederic Schindler OSB. It was during this time of spiritual direction that he began to feel an attraction to the Benedictine life of ora et labaor-prayer and work. He knew he like to pray and he liked the work that he saw the monks of the abbey doing. During one of his frequent visits to the abbey while on a break from the seminary, he realized that he was happier here than he was as a student. Fr. Benedict reminded him that there was always a room here for him and that he wouldn’t know about the life unless he lived it. William decided that rather than being a professional student he would give the life a try.

Br. William has persevered in his search for God these past three years, and during the celebration of the mass for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord he made his solemn profession of vows. This Feast is also appropriate for the act of profession. In his profession ceremony, Br. William’s former life is washed away and enters a new life of service to God.

His new life of service calls him to balance prayer and work. His work calls him to wear many different hats. Br. William begins his day while many people are still asleep; in the wee hours of the morning he services the abbey’s cars making sure that they are ready for the rest of the community to use throughout the day. Then he has a period of individual and communal prayer and the community Eucharist. The rest of the morning he spends his time working in the business office. Then there is day prayer and lunch with the community. Having recently been certified by the state, Br. William maintains our wastewater treatment plant in the early afternoons. The rest of the afternoon finds Br. William in the archives as the Abbey Archivist and in the school as a math tutor. Then he’s off to Vespers and dinner with the community, then a little leisure time followed by night prayer. At the end of the day, Br. William records Abbey happenings in the Abbey journal.